Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 1/21/22

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 1.6% in June after increasing 3% in May. In June, the index equaled 113.5 (2015=100) compared with 115.3 in May. “While giving back some of the gain from May, it appears that truck freight tonnage is slowly going in the right direction since hitting a recent low in January,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Despite June’s decline, the second quarter average was 0.2% above the first quarter and only 0.2% below the second quarter in 2023, which are good signs that truck freight might be finally turning the corner.” May’s increase was revised down from our June 18 press release. Compared with June 2023, the index decreased 0.4%. In May, the index was up 1% from a year earlier, which was the first year-over-year gain since February 2023.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index fell 1.7% in April after decreasing 2.8% in March. In April, the index equaled 112.7 (2015=100) compared with 114.7 in March. “While the broader economy continues to surprise and thus far stave off an expected recession, the freight economy is starkly different,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “The goods-portion of the economy is soft and as a result, even contract truck freight is now falling, albeit not nearly as much as the spot market. The tonnage index hit the lowest level since September 2021 in April and has now fallen on a year-over-year basis for two straight months.” March’s decline was revised up from our April 18 press release. Compared with April 2022, the SA index decreased 3.4%, which was the largest year-over-year decrease since February 2021. In March, the index was down 2.4% from a year earlier.

National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $3.518; Month Ago: $3.832; Year Ago: $3.760. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $4.497; Month Ago: $4.569; Year Ago: $5.309.